Dougherty Valley High School

Dougherty Valley High School (usually Dougherty, Dougherty Valley, Dougherty Valley High, DVHS, or DV High) is a public high school located in Windemere, San Ramon, California, United States.

It’s one of four high schools in the San Ramon Valley Unified School District (SRVUSD), along with California High School, San Ramon Valley High School, and Monte Vista High School. Constructed by Shapell Industries of California and Windemere Ranch Partners BLC, Dougherty was the first SRVUSD developer-built school. In 2007, the school opened its doors.

Dougherty’s nickname is Wildcat, and its school colors are navy, Columbia blue, and silver. It is known for its state-of-the-art campus, which features a performing arts center and a water center in a joint-use agreement with the city. Dougherty is the district’s top school based on the Academic Performance Index. The school is also home to over 200 clubs and a number of after-school activities.

History

Dougherty Valley High School was built by Shapell Industries of California and Windemere Ranch Partners BLC, which were also the two main developers in the Dougherty Valley area in general. Through a December 1988 agreement with SRVUSD, Shapell was obliged to “contribute its fair share of the cost of additional high school space needed to serve students generated by the project,” with 11,000 homes being built in the area.

Dougherty is the first developer-built high school in the SRVUSD, in contrast to the typical method used by the developer and the state to fund the school district for the construction of any necessary schools. The district and the developers began further negotiations on the construction of the school in 2001.

The name of the school was chosen from more than 150 suggestions submitted to the online survey, although the name, school colors and mascot had to be approved by the Board of Education. The school logo was designed in 2006 by Jennifer Wong, then a senior at Monte Vista High School, after winning a student logo design contest with 12 other entries. 

Wong received $500 for her design and was honored at the school board meeting alongside the competition’s runners. Denise Hibbard, who had been Principal Assistant at California High School for six years, was chosen as Dougherty’s first Principal.

Academics

GreatSchools.com has awarded the school a perfect 10 out of 10 scores, based on a comparison between the standardized test scores of the school and those of the state; it is one of the few schools in California to be distinguished as such. In 2009, Dougherty had an Academic Performance Index of 905 out of a possible 1000, rising from a base score of 891 in 2008. The school was the highest high school in the SRVUSD, the 27th highest high school in the state, and the 744th highest school in the country, according to the API score.

In 2011, Dougherty Valley improved by 12 points the previous year with an API score of 921, making it the third highest high school in Contra Costa County and the top high school in SRVUSD. Dougherty Valley improved further with an API score of 937 in 2012. In 2013, the school was awarded a gold medal, and ranked among the top 500 schools in the country by U.S. News.